Tango Video + Playing Dress Up + Reader Magnets by Kirsten Bett

Do you celebrate Halloween? This year Khashayar and I dressed up twice, never on the actual night, because Thursday nights are taken. That’s when we get together with friends to watch the wonderful new show, Matlock, starring Kathy Bates. The easiest occasions to elicit smiles via outrageous duds are when most everyone else is dressed normal, but it’s close enough to a holiday that one doesn’t get mistaken for being totally out of touch. Like at yesterday’s monthly book club meeting at the library (no surprise that the library is my fave place as I work on finding a literary agent to rep my 3 novels that’re explained here), when I wore this hat that I also sported days earlier at Zumba. The exercise class was a wild sweaty affair — note the faux police officer behind us who threatened to shut down the Zumba party… We’re quite a festive bunch around here. The weekend before, cherished dance-community friends hosted an annual party where many of the attendees performed. Khashayar and I did this non-choreographed (the authentic way to tango) Argentine Tango. The music is “Vuelvo Al Sur” by Ricardito Reveira, from his Palermo Nuevo Album, 2006…

Now for this week’s guest blog post: Kirsten Bett, a blogger/author from New Zealand, who currently resides in the Netherlands, has guested here before.

Lately, she’s experimenting with a “reader magnet,” which she explains as, “a gift for readers who join your mailing list. For indie writers, it’s a way to find their readers and connect with people who like their books. They can always unsubscribe if they want to.”

Reader Magnets Galore by Kirsten Bett

So, you did everything right, right? You connected the reader magnet to the books you have already written. Ok, in my case, the book I have already written. It feels like two books because I intensely edited My Name is Wilma for my Dutch readers after I translated it. But the point is that I created a great prequel. Let me break that down for you. My first book is a story told from the point of view of our cat Wilma. It’s about our emigration to New Zealand and 10 years later, back to the Netherlands. You could call it a fictional memoir. The people who read it love it. You can find their reviews here. People even take the book on holiday with them, so Wilma still travels the world. After the two books were out, I decided to write a reader magnet because I wanted to grow my email list because that’s the way to go. Right? So, I wrote a novella about the first few weeks of Wilma. She came to us as a kitten after a couple of workmates found her on the grounds during their lunch walk. She was only nine weeks old, the vet said, and seriously underweight. A year later, we moved to the other side of the world.

Inspiration

In my prequel, I could not fall back on real-life events as I hadn’t the faintest idea what Wilma had been through. I only knew I found her in Noordwijk in the region of the tulip fields, known for the Keukenhof. Inspiration came as it often does when I went for a walk and bumped into someone who started laughing at me and calling me bizarre while looking me up and down, after I cordially had wished her, “Good Morning”. The story was born. I don’t know if you have written a reader magnet? If you have, I hope you loved writing it as much as I did. It gets you to explore your book(s) in depth, especially the theme. My themes are about belonging and finding your tribe. In my reader magnet, I could really go to town with my themes. The lady I met on my walk inspired me to create Stragna Woman who wants to grab cat Wilma – at that stage still called Kitten Number Three – from her peaceful and sunny life with mum Tulpie at their place of residence, a tulip farm. Seriously, I had so much fun, I wish I could write it all over again…

Professional team

As it was going to be a free book, I didn’t feel like breaking the bank on a professional cover designer and editor, so I headed over to Fiverr. If you trust the reviews on Fiverr and feel a click with the creator, why not? One of the main reasons we moved back to the Netherlands was that we wanted to work and worry less and do more of what we love. We settled down in the north of the Netherlands where there are fewer jobs than in the Amsterdam – The Hague – Rotterdam area; I took a step down from my previous roles in communications, and started writing. I don’t have hundreds of euros to spend on editing and a cover. But I do want good quality, and I am very happy with the result!

Where are my readers?

I sent a link to the free copy (via Bookfunnel) to my email list of 70+ to thank them for having subscribed. Then, I created a post to let the world know this ab fab fantastic novel was out, and it was free. And then? Nothing happened…

In my next guest blog, I will tell you how I turned my frown upside down… Spoiler alert, the basic principle is keep doing what makes you happy! In the meantime, download my novella — I’d be delighted!

Have you also created a reader magnet? Did you have trouble getting it into the world? Any tips? Add them in the comments and I will include them in my next guest blog!